Knitting

Free Patterns, Tutorials and Project Ideas

Bear’s Knit Sweater Stolen in North Vancouver

by

vancouver yarn bombingThe North Vancouver yarn bombing has been controversial since before it began. A public art project of the North Vancouver Community Arts Council, the plan was to place knit graffiti in various places around the city to attract attention and interest and get people excited about art.

Sounds good, right? It probably would have been fine until the council asked for $7,500 from the city to fund the project, which originally was turned down and then approved a week later when one of the dissenters was absent.

The yarn pieces were made by more than 120 knitters of all ages and skill levels, the council reports, but what should have been a heartwarming story about the power of art to bring people together turned sour when someone stole the knit covering off a bear statue in a corner park. The council says it will take the sweater back no questions asked if the thief has a change of heart.

I wonder what compel someone to want to steal knitting? Thoughts? Spill it!

[Photo by Paul McCrath/ Vancouver Sun.]

Comments

  1. I would be fine seeing the random knitted projects on trees and such but to have it on a statue of a bear that is someone else’s art, would be an eye sore. I personally would be mad if that was a statue that I created or even someone I knew, I would take it off if that was the case.

  2. Maybe the thief’s own pet bear was cold and s/he knew s/he would never be able to knit as nice of a cover for it?!??

  3. Maybe they found themselves locked out of their house without a key and without a coat and were so thankful to be able to use the Bear’s sweater. What the heck would you do with it afterwards. Hopefully return it or give it to someone else who needs it! :o)

  4. Just thought of this…have you checked the homeless in your city? Maybe one of them has it. I guess I’m just hoping the person who took it really needed it! :p BTW that would be a neat project ….hang knit sweaters on statues all over the city for people to use if they need one. :o)

  5. Maybe someone didn’t like the sort of back handed way of getting funding (although it certainly doesn’t make it ok to steal!) or maybe they didn’t like seeing one form of art covered by another. Although, I imagine it is probably just some thoughtless act of meanness.

  6. They can’t knit and have no one to knit for them, if so, we should pity them. They don’t think that the bear needed a sweater as he has fur. They think yarn bombing to attract attention to the arts is a poor choice of publicity. They hate art. Perhaps all of these, whatever it is, they leave us poorer for their meanspiritedness.

  7. Not sure if I agree with the $7,500…I think I would be upset even though I’m a crafter, too. What was the money used for? Yarn? I was also under the impression that Yarn Bombing was supposed to be a covert, annonymous act, not a highly publisized political statement backed by government funds. As to the bear, I do agree with the opinion that covering one piece of art with another was not as an effective use of Yarn Bombing as would be covering trees, lamp posts, benches, etc. Create art, don’t cover it.

  8. I don’t agree with the city funding the project even as an avid knitter and a lover of yarn bombing. I also don’t think covering one person’s art with your own is appropriate. Sorry the knitter lost her sweater, but wrong way to fund it and wrong to put graffiti on someone else’s art. Do you think it would have been OK to spray paint it, and ask the city to pay for the paint just because you happen to think the bear looks like it ‘just needs some thing else.’

Have you read?

Patchwork Blanket Knitting Patterns

Any time of year is a good time for stash busting, but if you can combine it with knitting a blanket that will keep you warm when it (finally!) gets cooler that’s even better. Let’s take a look at some fun patchwork blanket knitting patterns. 

If you want to keep it super simple, you can just make blocks of garter stitch and sew them together, like the beginner’s patchwork baby blanket from Mini Baa Baa or the color block blanket from Make and Do Crew. Both projects are worked in strips and sew together, with the baby version calling for two strands of DK or light worsted weight yarn held together and the larger one using bulky yarn. 

Add a little more texture with the mixed blocks of the cottage quilt throw from Mama in a Stitch. This one combines garter stitch and seed stitch and uses worsted weight yarn. She used a crochet join to make the chains on top of the blocks, but you can join them however you like. It calls for eight colors but you can use what you have, and there are three size options. 

Get a real sampler style patchwork blanket with this design from Knit Sew Make. It calls for worsted weight yarn and has four size options. All of the patterns just use knit and purl stitches so this one is still pretty easy for beginners. 

If you want a more complex colorwork project that will keep you entertained all season, try the Peace by Piece blanket pattern from Needle and Feather. This one is made up of two color colorwork blocks and calls for worsted weight yarn. You can choose to use just a few of the blocks and repeat them more often, or make multiples of the whole set. 

The knitted patchwork recipe from Martine Ellis (free on Ravelry) uses mitered squares in fingering weight yarn, so it’s perfect for using up all your leftover sock yarn and mini skeins. This one is a tutorial more than a pattern so you can make your blanket as big as you like or keep going until you run out of yarn. 

Susan B. Anderson’s 100 Squares blanket (find it on Ravelry) has a lot of mitered squares, too, but they’re arranged in fun ways and includes some quilt inspired designs as well. This one also is a bit of method more than pattern but it sure looks like a lot of fun for using all the leftovers. 

Of course you can totally improvise a patchwork blanket using the yarn and stitches you like, but I hope these patterns inspire you to look at your leftover yarn in a new way.